Wow. NHL Bizarro world. This has been one of the strangest off seasons in recent memory. Alfredsson a Red Wing, Iggy a Bruin, Horton a Blue Jacket, Lecavalier a Flyer... now Kovalchuk walking away from 77 million dollars.

I'm sure he'll play in the KHL at some point and make some good dough there - but 77 millions dollars. Not sure I could do that.

He retires this offseason and the cap recapture is only $250K per year until 2025.

If he retired in 2019 the cap recapture penalty would be roughly $4.3M per year.

Because he was paid $6M per year the first 2 years of his deal and then $11M last year the cap hit of his contract was $6.7M so there isn't a large difference between his accrued salary and the cap hit the Devils we on the hook for.

So if he goes and plays a year in the KHL doesn't his current NHL contract then become void next season? Then he is free to un-retire and sign wherever he likes??

His cap recapture penalty if he retired right now would be ~$825K til 2021-22.

Certainly better for us than his 5.3, better than a buyout for the owner, but the big difference is Kovie will play agin in the KHL. Luongo does not have those options, we he does I guess, if he wants to live in Russia.

If a player retires while under contract his rights are still owned by the club from which he retired. They can grant permission to him to release him but thats not a guaranteed thing, plus he has to sit out a minimum of one year.

I'm sure NJD will grant Kovie permission. They know he will not come back, they get out from under his contract and free up a ton of cap space and the cap recapture is minimal.

If Luongo retires we get the cap recapture of just under 900K but would have to release him in order for him to sign another NHL contract. Since he is under contract I'm not sure about waivers in that scenario.

Kovie is doing this because he wants to go home. He is tired of N. America and the NHL. He can make a tom of tax free coin with the KHL, play in the Olympics and raise his family in his country. He isn't trying to get out of a bad contract to be a FA. That is a huge difference with respect to what Luongo would be trying to do. So while it is an option for Luongo it would be risky. I actually have a ton of respect for Kovie for doing this now. He wanted to do it after the lockout but was talked into coming back for the shortened season. He is making a personal decision which will also end up being a good business decision.

NJD lost a lot when you consider the assets they gave up to trade for him, the loss of a first round pick for the first contract that was voided by the NHL, the loss of cap space that prevented them from retaining some FA and now the lost opportunity this FA period to sign big name or two. The cap penalty though is easy to swallow and moving forward they have a ton of cap room.

Hockey Widow wrote:Certainly better for us than his 5.3, better than a buyout for the owner, but the big difference is Kovie will play agin in the KHL. Luongo does not have those options, we he does I guess, if he wants to live in Russia.

Yeah, I understand. More just joking around. Though there is discussion amongst some of the media here of Luo simply sitting out the year - which makes no sense for Luongo.

I'm perfectly happy with Luo playing for the Canucks, barring of course he still wants to. His cap hit is great for the player he is and it will enable us to better the team in front of him, especially when the cap goes back up.

Being a team that spends or will spend close to the cap every year is great, unless of course the cap is artificially decreased. In this scenario we are just going to have to grin and bear it for the year.

The Devils are much worse without Kovie. Not sure how they can replace a player of his ilk.

yes he likely just wants to play at home. But it also means he doesn't want to achieve the pinnacle that there is to achieve in his chosen profession. That's fine. It's a choice he has made. No problem with that at all. We all make those choices. But Russian, Canadian or whatever, it also means it isn't the type of competitive nature you hope to have on your team. You want every guy to want to be part of the best team in the best league on the planet. Kovalchuk doesn't want to be that guy so he has made the decision he needed to make. While it sounded like I was slamming him with my quick comment that wasn't the intent. he has made the right decision for him and his teammates because he wasn't willing to go balls out for a NHL team.